This invention concerns a box having two parts articulated along a hinge, one part constituting the lid and the other the bottom of the box, and used mainly to contain cosmetic products.
Boxes of this type that close by a closure system including two elements fitted respectively to the edge of the lid and the edge of the bottom opposite the hinge are known. In most cases the closure system includes a catch attached to the edge of the lid, which engages in a slot fixed to the bottom of the box, though the converse is also possible. It is known for the opening mechanism of the closure system to be fitted in a slide that can slip between guides or in a channel, in the bottom of the box, after manual operation of an activation mechanism carried by the slide and accessible from the outside, such that an elastic restoring mechanism cooperates with the slide and a contact surface in the bottom of the box to enable the slide to return to its rest position, and a catch mechanism engages with detents attached to the bottom of the box to retain the slide in relation to the bottom of the box.
It is also known for the bottom of the box to include a single hollow piece with an internal space or two pieces: a platen and a base which between them, form the internal space.
In EP-A 0 467 761 a box is described including a slide with the general shape of a U in which the elastic restoring mechanism includes two branches, each formed by an extension of one arm of the U-shaped body, and the catch mechanism includes lateral catches projecting sideways from the arms of the U-shaped body at the base of those branches and engaging with detents fixed to the edges of the box. In this arrangement the slide's guide channel is short and wide. Since the slide is a plastic molding, the shape of the channel does not always allow the play resulting from the molding operation to be taken up.
Consequently, operation is not convenient for the user because the slide can jam or grate during its sliding movement. Moreover, the elastic devices fitted to the arms of the U-shaped slide do not allow sufficient movement of the slide and it can sometimes be difficult to open the box.